I got into school for nothing-99
I got into school for nothing (99)
Lesson 21. It's Because of Special Admissions - 3
Starting from Tuesday of the 7th week, classes resumed as normal.
During the Comprehensive Practical Combat class in the morning, he engaged in a magic duel with Aire, who had been regretting not being able to face Ban Yuwon during the evaluation match. As Ban Yuwon, who had recently been involved in many magical and cursed situations, showed a remarkable growth in his skills, Aire was astonished.
“Just now, can you do that without a staff?”
“Well, something like that.”
“Indeed... You are, by nature, a mage.”
Aire nodded, seemingly deeply impressed.
However, Cellon seemed dissatisfied even with that.
‘Calm down, Cellon.’
In truth, Ban Yuwon, having had a conversation with Rucell last week, wanted to spar with Aire using only martial arts, excluding magic. However, Aire seemed to prefer magic duels, so after a discussion, they decided to alternate their preferred sparring methods in the future.
But for some reason, he felt as if he was forgetting something while performing this duel with Aire...
“Ban Yuwon! You were supposed to have a magic duel with me!”
“Ah, right, Misty!”
“Call me Aiole!”
Now that he thought about it, he had promised Misty Aiole to have a pure magic duel even before Aire.
By the way, he hadn’t noticed it before, but Aire's name and the surname Aiole seemed very similar. Could the two of them be related?
While Ban Yuwon pondered, Misty, who had stepped onto the dueling arena, pointed at him and shouted.
“Hurry up! You sparred with the princess, so you're not going to tell me you can't duel me, are you?!”
“What the? Why is that Aiole suddenly acting friendly with a low-born like him?”
“Maybe it’s because of his grades? They say ‘that guy’ was first in the written exams.”
“Aiole... I thought highly of her, but I’m disappointed. Is it because he’s also a magic user?”
And her actions provoked an unexpected reaction.
The Class 1 students, who had already regarded Ban Yuwon and his Class 11 members as eyesores due to the grades being posted just yesterday, began to dramatically misinterpret Misty's actions and voice their complaints.
While Aire had always associated with Ban Yuwon and had never interacted with the Class 1 students in the first place, so they dared not provoke her, it was different for Misty.
Moreover, the fact that Misty was a member of Class 1, a rare mage, and secretly popular within Class 1, only added fuel to the fire.
“Everyone, quiet! Let’s focus on their duel for now!”
Associate Professor Entel, who had held a good impression of Class 11 from the start, frowned and tried to rein in the students as they began to talk excessively, but it was no easy task.
Ultimately, Misty herself had to step forward.
“What nonsense are you spouting? I’m not being friendly, I’m trying to duel!”
“Why are you dueling with *that* guy of all people?”
“Because his magic skills are outstanding! If you have eyes, you can tell whether Ban Yuwon is strong or weak, can’t you? Don’t just talk behind his back, confront him openly with your skills!”
“Exactly! Those of you who can’t even beat Misty should just shut up!”
Strange. Misty herself seemed to have badmouthed Ban Yuwon behind his back more than anyone else...
In any case, since Misty’s own retort had silenced the noise, he decided to let it go.
Of course, Misty was a powerful practitioner wielding unique magic (it seemed she had sublimated her innate earth-elemental ability into magic). However, she could not defeat Ban Yuwon, who, even in pure magic, had come to wield elemental magic, Language Magic, and even curses.
“Aaah! What is this?! Your physical abilities are stronger!”
“Yeah, but my magic is pretty strong too.”
“Uwaaaaaaaah!”
Misty trembled with frustration to the point of tears but did not challenge the duel’s result.
On the contrary, she seemed inclined to keep pestering him for more duels in the future. Ban Yuwon only accepted her request after setting the same conditions he had set for Aire.
“Don’t you care about your classmates?”
“Hmph, if you want to get stronger, you have to associate with strong people. Honestly, I don’t know how someone from a lower-ranked dimension could improve their magic so quickly... but blindly denying it just because of their origin is foolish.”
Took you long enough to realize that.
However, looking back, Misty had indeed held strong prejudices against lower-ranked dimensions, but she was more the type to want him to clearly demonstrate his abilities rather than ignore and distort the facts.
And once she realized that he hadn't exaggerated his skills or cheated this time, her resistance vanished.
“I'll keep bothering you to find out how you got so strong, so be prepared.”
Perhaps realizing Ban Yuwon's true skills through the magic duel had cleared her mind. Misty said that with a refreshed expression, then added in a slightly softer voice,
“...And if I hang out with you, I might even get closer to the princess.”
“A terrifying yuri line...”
Ban Yuwon shuddered.
Aire, who revered Yumina; Misty, who followed Aire.
“You lost, but you fought well, Misty!”
“Don’t emphasize that I lost, you idiot!”
And even the Class 1 girl who always followed Misty around!
He hastily escaped from the terrifying yuri front and returned to where his classmates were.
“Yuwon!”
“Huh? Oh, what is it? Why so urgently, Rucell?!”
Rucell, paying no mind to the ongoing class, clung to him and rubbed her scent on him.
It seemed she was quite displeased that he had sparred with one girl after another, first Aire, then Misty.
“If I don't properly overwrite his scent...!”
Seeing Rucell completely unleashed after their Sunday date, Ban Yuwon felt a slight regret, wondering if he had opened a can of worms.
Then he suddenly realized there was no brake to control her and tilted his head.
“Where’s Dokgo Yeon?”
As Light, who had been groaning, unable to find an excuse to tear Rucell away from Ban Yuwon even now, raised a hand and pointed to one side.
Ban Yuwon, tilting his head and looking in that direction, wondering if a duel was happening, let out an "Ah" mixed with realization.
Dokgo Yeon and Lusein Rown-Palomer Aquinas Ortima were facing off.
“What do you want? If it’s a duel, make your request quickly. Your gaze is so disgusting I can barely stand it.”
Ban Yuwon, hearing Dokgo Yeon speak informally to someone else for the first time, opened his eyes wide.
Ortima listened to her words and remained silent for a long time, finally managing to open his mouth just as Dokgo Yeon was about to turn her back.
“Why... why do you speak informally to me?”
“Do you need me to tell you?”
“...No, there’s no need.”
What was this? What was happening right now?
Why was a subtle romantic atmosphere forming?
Ban Yuwon fell into a state of confusion, watching Dokgo Yeon's increasingly frowning expression and Ortima's unexpectedly not-displeased look despite her harsh words.
Anyone observing would truly think Ortima had plunged into a dungeon to rescue a Dokgo Yeon in peril.
“Dokgo Yeon, you took many things from me. I will take them back, without fail. You will have to pay for it throughout your entire life.”
“As it happens, I only have one thing to give you. I’ll give it to you whenever you want. And once I do, you won’t be able to spout nonsense ever again.”
“I’ve changed, Dokgo Yeon. I will gain something from you! Anything, entirely by my own power!”
“Hmph.”
Realizing that Ortima would not challenge her to a duel even if they talked further, Dokgo Yeon calmly left him after those final words.
Ortima didn't try to stop her, merely gazing wistfully at her receding figure... Ban Yuwon, seeing this, genuinely began to feel confused.
“Why did his genre change all by itself? I’d think he was someone who proposed to Dokgo Yeon and got rejected.”
“Well, after losing an arm, perhaps his outlook on life changed when some of his memories went with it?”
As Ban Yuwon and As Light exchanged astonished remarks, Rucell, who had been burying her face in Ban Yuwon's chest and rubbing her cheek against him, spoke words that were close to the truth.
“That man probably completely forgot that he committed a sin against us in the dungeon. He just ran wild on his own, drew his own conclusions... Perhaps he considers that last incident an expensive life lesson, and thinks he’s grown quite a bit after a bitter failure? A self-centered nuisance.”
When she said things like this, it was clear that Rucell was neither ignorant nor lacking in vocabulary.
She was simply a beast honest to her instincts.
“That sounds plausible, now that I hear it. Why is he using us as stepping stones for his growth so offensively?”
“Is that how prestigious families from higher-ranked dimensions operate? How convenient for them. Even if they fail in a way that would have killed anyone else several times over, their family takes care of all the cleanup.”
“It really is. It’s very unpleasant.”
Before long, Dokgo Yeon joined the group.
Her brows were deeply furrowed, and though he would never dare say it to her face, it was incredibly cute.
—Poke!
“Why?!”
“Your expression was unpleasant. You were probably thinking something strange about me anyway.”
“I’m so wronged, I can’t live like this...”
As Ban Yuwon clutched the spot where Dokgo Yeon had poked him and groaned, she looked at him and spoke.
“Ban Yuwon, don’t you have any sweet treats to soothe my mood? You should pay the price for making such an unpleasant expression.”
“What does Ortima even like about a pouty kid like this, no, never mind.”
He survived thanks to Dokgo Yeon not understanding what "pouty kid" meant.
As a bonus, Dokgo Yeon, after eating the high-grade fresh chocolate from an Earth department store (to which he had added the concept of 'Preservation' to extend its shelf life without side effects and enhanced its sweetness for a richer taste) that Ban Yuwon had carefully hidden in his inventory, was completely cheered up and forgave him.
* * *
[Class Notification: Student Ban Yuwon is deemed to have completed the ‘Basic Martial Arts Techniques’ course with a perfect score. Starting this week, during that class period, you will be taking ‘Aura Combat Studies,’ a major-deepening course for top-performing students. The supervising professor is Professor Lyu Cheolmyeong.]
“...Huh?”
After school on Tuesday.
Ban Yuwon, who had been fiercely sparring with Dokgo Yeon with just a single sword, felt his student ID vibrate and called a timeout, then made an inexpressible expression upon seeing the absurd notification that popped up.
He looked up to see Dokgo Yeon, who likewise was checking her student ID and making a strange expression.
“You got the same notification? Aura Combat Studies?”
“Yes. Lyu Cheolmyeong... You mean that man who emitted a house-sized crimson sword aura, right?”
“Yeah.”
Ban Yuwon had heard that Aura Combat Studies was a lecture exclusively for close-combat specialists, the counterpart to Magical Combat, and that first-year students who hadn't chosen a major couldn't take Lyu Cheolmyeong's class even if they died and came back to life.
So why had this suddenly been sent to Ban Yuwon and Dokgo Yeon, who hadn't even chosen a major, under the pretext of being top-performing students?
“Something smells fishy.”
“...Sniff sniff.”
Dokgo Yeon needlessly pulled her sleeve up and sniffed it.
Ban Yuwon chuckled and shook his head.
“No, not you. I meant this situation.”
Dokgo Yeon’s expression turned serious.
“What did I do? I didn’t do anything.”
“You just now definitely... Right, you didn’t do anything.”
Ban Yuwon thought he needed to invent a word specifically for Dokgo Yeon, meaning 'suddenly adorable then suddenly terrifying.'
“Ban, you got it too?”
“Ah, you guys too?”
“Yuwon, if it’s a class replacing Basic Martial Arts Techniques...”
“Yeah. It’s the second period tomorrow.”
It seemed As Light and Rucell, who had been sparring a little distance away, had also received the same message.
Indeed, since it was sent to Ban Yuwon, who was 8th in the comprehensive duel rankings, it made sense that everyone above him, excluding mages, would also have received it.
Nevertheless... Ban Yuwon still had an uneasy feeling.
The Academy had never explicitly explained any special privileges for top-performing students, so why were they suddenly being told to take a major-deepening course now that they had become top students?
“Yuwon!”
The door to the Class 11 training room burst open.
Yumina herself had come to find them.
Her hair, made of flower petals, was tied in a ponytail, giving her a very neat appearance, but her facial expression, in contrast, was deeply distorted.
“You don't need to take that class, refuse it! Professor Cantone pulled some strings. Professor Lyu Cheolmyeong is deeply prejudiced against lower-ranked dimensions; there's no telling what he'll do!”
She was so agitated that she even forgot her usual persona, hastily blurting out her words in informal speech.
While the rest of the team looked at her, dumbfounded, only Ban Yuwon calmly replied.
“But Professor, he can’t directly harm us during official class hours, can he?”
“He’ll torment you in incredibly insidious ways! He might go all out during a 'duel' in an unadult-like manner to crush your morale, or belittle and dismiss your techniques, or force you to blindly follow what he teaches! He’s always been that insidious kind of person!”
Oh, right.
This was a place filled with many people who were exceptionally powerful but whose character wasn't very mature.
Still, Ban Yuwon couldn’t give her the answer she wanted.
“Professor, we've gone to all this trouble to pass the midterms splendidly and create a good image. We can’t refuse this offer now.”
“But...”
“That’s how image works. Professor Cantone and Lyu Cheolmyeong probably knew that and sent out this notification just one day in advance, as if to provoke us.”
Perhaps they were hoping the Class 11 members would run away.
They would crush them with all sorts of slander, starting with accusations like, “You claim to be top students, but you ran away because you weren’t confident in the major-deepening course?”
And if they accepted the offer, they would undoubtedly have other means prepared to torment them. Truly, it was incredibly insidious.
“But that doesn’t mean we’ll just let it happen. Right, Dokgo Yeon?”
“I will acknowledge the profound history he has accumulated over a long time and his twisted, solidified sword intent. But to say he’s great enough to look down on us... I wonder. Perhaps all he can boast about is his age?”
“Keuk.”
For some reason, even Yumina took damage from her words.
Even though she was 500 years old, she was overwhelmingly young among the full professors and one of the strongest among them, so there was no need for her to be bothered.
“Still, I’m worried. Reputation means nothing to me, so if we can avoid it, we should...”
“Noona.”
Yumina froze solid on the spot at Ban Yuwon’s ultimate trump card.
As a side effect, the other three also froze with her.
Ban Yuwon, deliberately ignoring the three people behind him, looked Yumina in the eyes seriously and said,
“I’m tired of dealing with those who look down on us for some incomprehensible reason, like being from a lower-ranked dimension. I’ll put an end to this decisively this time, so such words never surface again. ...Please trust me.”
“If you ask me to trust you... then I have no choice but to trust you, I suppose.”
Overwhelmed by his momentum, Yumina stammered and nodded.
Ban Yuwon chuckled and lightly tapped the flower brooch pinned to his chest.
“If push comes to shove, I’ll use this, this. So please play along well when that happens.”
“Okay, I understand. Then I’ll go...?”
She had rushed over, worried about them, only to be logically refuted by Ban Yuwon himself.
Perhaps completely drained of energy, Yumina stumbled backward listlessly.
“Wait.”
And As Light blocked her path.
“Professor, surely... you’re not making Ban call you ‘Noona’ when you’re alone, are you? And your tone was also strangely familiar just now.”
“Ugh?!”
Yumina, who could have just handled it calmly, visibly flinched at that.
“No wonder, I smelled something, after all...”
“Indeed, there was a reason you always treated Ban Yuwon to good meals. Noona, noona. How interesting...”
With Rucell speaking in short, deliberate phrases, creating an atmosphere of dread, and Dokgo Yeon grinning widely as if she’d caught a juicy scandal—
Yumina looked at Ban Yuwon with a pleading expression, but Ban Yuwon, not wanting to be dragged down with her, chose silence.
A witch trial commenced.
She was found guilty.
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